Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus is an insidious and slow-progressing disease having a significant impact on the quality of life. It can eventually result in cirrhosis of the liver, decompensated liver disease and/or hepatocelluar carcinoma.
Alpha interferon monotherapy is commonly used to treat chronic hepatitis C infection. However this treatment is not always effective and sometimes results in intolerable side effects related to the dosage and duration of therapy. Ribavirin has been proposed as a monotherapy treatment for chronic hepatitis C infection (Thomas et al. AASLD Abstracts, Hepatology Vol. 20, NO. 4, Pt 2, Number 440, 1994). However, this monotherapy treatment has usually been found relatively ineffective and has its own undesirable side effects.
Combination therapy of alpha interferon and ribavirin has been proposed (Lai, et al. Symposium to the 9th Biennial Scientific Meeting Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver. 1994). Preliminary results suggest that the combination therapy may be more effective than either monotherapy. However at the proposed dosages, undesirable side effects have still been encountered.
There is a need for a method for treating chronic hepatitis C infection with a combination of alpha interferon and ribavirin in the substantial absence of side effects normally associated with either compound.
This invention may be summarized as a method for treating chronic hepatitis C infection in patients in need of such treating comprising administering an amount of alpha interferon in association with an amount of ribavirin effective to treat hepatitis C in the absence or substantial reduction of side effects associated with ribavirin and alpha interferon.